The Young and the Restless

Creatures of habit

I think every kid comes with a case of OCD.  The certain place they have to sit on the couch.  The certain songs you have to sing before bed.  The certain cup they have to drink out of.  The certain shorts they have to wear everyday.  The twelve band-aids that they have to wear at any given time.  They can be funny and quirky and drive you crazy at the same time.  They usually outgrow it, although Jayden and Maddox have both staked claims on the corner couch position and the barstool next to the wall and it gets down right dirty sometimes.  Maddox's latest OCDism is that he has to tell me, like 52 times a day, "Mom, I'm the baby and  your the mom".  It started when he was playing house with Kylie a couple of months ago and he was the baby and she was the mom, then he wanted me to be the mom and I guess the game has never ended.  He'll be outside playing and runs in to tell me he's the baby and I'm the mom.  I'll hear the pitter patter of his little footed pj's at 5am as he runs to my bedside to whisper it to me.  I'm in the shower and he comes running in to tell me.  I'm on the phone and he screams it at me until I acknowledge it.  He'll come out of bed atleast 7 times before falling asleep to tell me.  He bangs on the bathroom door to tell me. He'll scream it up the stairs while I'm putting the baby to sleep.  It is hilarious and ridiculous. One time we were messing with him and got him so excited to pretend like Kylie was his sister and Jayden and Ryder were his brothers and that dad was his dad and that this was our house and it went on and on, and he thought it sounded like such a fun life.  I remember when Jayden was his age, every night when I would put him to bed he would say, "mom, mom, mom, mom.....beeeeeee" and then repeat it every time I would try to leave.  Kylie used to have this whole list of phrases she would recite to me before going to bed and I wish so bad I would have written it down (pre-blog life, so sad), but I do remember that she used to make me cover her head with the blankets and tuck it in tight.  She would always ask me to check and make sure there were no holes.  I would come in later and she would be dripping in sweat, but she would not go to bed unless I did it.  So funny these quirky little things that make them tick. I'm going to be sad when the day comes when he's no longer the baby and he no longer reminds me that I'm his mom.  But atleast then I can go to the bathroom in peace.